DTMB

"Don't tase me, bro."



Yes, yes, we've all heard it. By now it needs no context in this medium. In fact, this meme has already begun to come unstuck from it's context in a decidedly postmodern (that is, quite common) manner. That part's not that interesting.



For the sake of argument, I'm going to adopt a cynical position and assume the UF tasering incident was a set-up, a fiction, a piece of performance art. I'm going to assume the police acted in a perfectly rational manner, and that Andrew Meyer somehow "deserved" to be treated like a violent criminal. Take away all the political and social and legal issues awash in daylight after this video, and the meme remains: "Don't tase me, bro."



I'm sorry, let's add ONE piece of context. What we have here is 2 people, one a "citizen" and one to whom some kind of "authority" has been granted.* This authority allowed one of these people to painfully shock the other person in public, in front of hundreds of others while (and this is key) the recipient of the shock said, loud and clear, "don't tase me, bro." A very obvious imperative, softened and humanized by the familiar term of equality and peace. With apologies for the patriarchal language, if we are brothers, is there any way to morally justify treating our brother as anything less? Would YOU tase your brother when he said to your face, "Don't?" If anyone is calm and clear enough to form a simple sentence, and invoke brotherhood in his request, is that not a clear, universal sign to STOP?



And yet, back in context, there are still those talking about "he deserved it" and "had it coming" and "avoid by submitting." These may be these same folks who celebrate brutal conditions in overcrowded prisons, who champion walls around "nations" to keep people out/in. Those who feel hurt or violated, who need to extract revenge. This is our personal pit of snakes here in the US. I live in one of the most consciously liberal parts of the world here in Portland, and still I swim in violence every day. Even friends consider me extremist for truly believing in nonviolence as a revolutionary way of life.



So, please, don't tase me, bro. Pass it on.








*I use the passive voice there to indicate that I do not know "who" or "what" granted the police this authority. This, however, is another question altogether.